The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas

Standard Ebooks

About this ebook

Edmond Dantès is a young man about to be made captain of a cargo vessel and marry his sweetheart. But he is arrested at his pre-wedding feast, having been falsely accused of being a Bonapartist. Thrown into the notorious Château d’If prison, he eventually meets an ancient inmate who teaches him language, science, and passes hints of a hidden fortune. When Edmond makes his way out of prison, he plots to reward those who stood by him (his old employer, for one), and to seek revenge on the men who betrayed him: one who wrote the letter that denounced him, one that married his fiancée in his absence, and one who knew Dantès was innocent but stood idly by and did nothing.

The Count of Monte Cristo is another of Alexandre Dumas’ thrilling adventure stories, possibly more popular even than The Three Musketeers. Originally serialized in a French newspaper over the course of a year-and-a-half, it was enormously popular after its publication in book form, and has never been out of print since. Its timeless story of adventure, historical drama, romance, revenge, and Eastern mystery has been the source of over forty movies and TV series.

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Ratings and reviews

While I reveal my intellectual snobbery almost completely when I consider that one has not truly lived a great book when they start their considerations with a quote from either the beginning or the end, I cannot help but do so with this wonderful passage from the Count's goodbye letter to his dear Morrel: "As for you, Morrel, this is the secret of my conduct towards you. There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living." Perspective, n'est-ce pas? Having finished this first reading of Dumas' classic, while engaged in sifting through the dense poetry of that era's language, I knew, I know, that I will return to this book many times throughout the course of my life. In the years to come when I am more free to consider philosophy the author burdened his characters with, when my words will not hurt those who may come upon them as I place theme and plot in comparison to my own story, I know there will be many a blog piece mined from 'Count'. But for now, how could I not be inspired by the Count's encouragement to his friend that "the deepest grief" endured can lead to something sublime when time and fate provides the mirror experience. Mercedes begging her former love to spare the life of her son, least the sins of the parents fall upon the innocent in a harsher time, was that moment of rebuke that shook the Count from his obsession with vengence. When the Count laments that the driving force of his life had been shown for waste with but the few words of one that once meant the world to him, oh gawd, that hits, doesn't it? Indeed, we can all be so moved when the thousand yard stare is relaxed in favour of the individual relationships that constitute a life. So even though the Count would indeed have the blood of an innocent on his hands due to his grievance, in that of young Edward being poisoned by an inconsolable mother about to conclude her own life, the realization as to an appreciation for the enjoyments of living were not lost on the man who would soon shed his avenging spectre cloak. We should all have a come-to-Jesus moment, even if we haven't been unjustly imprisoned, even if the means to our detention are but the mere vagaries of burden when caring for another. Lol! As I said, I know this beauty will stay with me for the rest of my life. I can already picture myself sitting in a McDonald's in the AM, sitting on a park bench down by the harbourfront waiting for the gates to open, giving breathe to so many of the morsels that Dumas created in 'Count'. Indeed, feelings of isolation and the removal from one's life is a burden that The Count of Monte Cristo shares with many.

This is a great book to read and I would highly recommend it. It is one of the most fateful translations of the story.

This is one of my all time favorite books and is a classic for a reason! Don't miss out on one of the greatest stories of all time!